The parish claimed what?

Thursday

Aug 15, 2013 at 3:08 PM

If you live in Terrebonne Parish, you should feel kind of dirty right now.

Michael GormanEditorial page editor

If you live in Terrebonne Parish, you should feel kind of dirty right now.No, it’s nothing you did. It’s what your government is doing on your behalf.By the way, if you live in Lafourche Parish, you might as well go ahead and feel dirty too, because you will anyway by the time you finish reading this.So here’s the gist of what happened: Angelo Vickers, a former guard at the Terrebonne juvenile detention center, had sex with a 14-year-old inmate at the facility. That led to his being fired and, after pleading guilty to molestation of a juvenile, going to prison.The then-teen, now called “Mary Doe” in court papers to protect her identity, has sued the parish and Vickers, claiming that the parish bears some responsibility for the sexual abuse she suffered at its juvenile jail.That seems reasonable. After all, there were numerous abuses alleged at the facility, and a handful of guards had charges pressed against them.Vickers cut a deal and went to jail. Two others were acquitted after opting for trial.There have also been lawsuits filed by some of the guards against the parish, but we needn’t concern ourselves with any of that for the moment. Here, what is important is that Vickers admitted his crime, and that crime has led to the lawsuit he and the parish currently face.The parish, of course, has a duty to the taxpayers to responsibly defend itself. It has done that with gusto in this case, a fact that has put it at odds with those who expect common sense and decency even in the realm of parish government.Part of the parish’s defense strategy is to claim that the 14-year-old — again, that is a 14-year-old — consented to sex with Vickers and that the parish’s liability in this whole mess should therefore be mitigated.And this is where we should all feel a wave of nausea and dirtiness.Let’s look at the “she had it coming” defense.First, it requires the court to decide that a 14-year-old girl can legally consent to sex with an adult. That is absurd and a terrible affront to anyone who cares about the victims of sex cases like this and far too many others.For the defense to work, it also requires the court to decide that in a relationship of grossly differing levels of power, the one on the short end can actually give consent.In this case, how much power to consent or, more importantly, to refuse, do you think a 14-year-old inmate has in the face of an adult who is also a guard who has almost complete control over her?Yet the parish is making this argument — on your behalf, mind you — in a real court.Don’t be tricked into thinking you’re as helpless as a 14-year-old inmate. You can demand that your government stop behaving like this is the 17th century.And some have done just that.“It’s wrong-headed,” Carolyn McNabb told the Terrebonne Parish Council Wednesday night. “There is no law to support it. And when the government says this about this young child, the government has committed another assault on this child.”The parish is indeed trying to again victimize “Mary Doe.”How else can we explain away the ludicrous claims being made by the government?Now, if the parish has any meaningful defense to the allegation that it bears at least some of the responsibility for what happened to this girl, it should stick to the point.If all it can do is blame the victim, it should be ashamed.In a representative form of government, we get the leaders we deserve. With that in mind, we should be ashamed.You don’t have to imagine that it could have been you or your child or grandchild. It is enough that it was this girl abused by a guard who was supposed to help keep her safe.Imagining that the victim is someone you know, though, can put a face on what the parish is trying to do to get out of this legal fix.No matter what this girl did before she was locked up and no matter what she has done since, no one had the right to sexually abuse her while she was being held prisoner — and abuse is what it is when an adult in a position of power has sex with a 14-year-old under his authority. Claiming that this was anything else should make us all feel dirty.

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.